Valve Changes The Steam Controller Again

Well, they call it "Valve Time" for a reason. The Steam Controller, first revealed in September 2013 and initial slated for a release with several third-party Steam Boxes, was delayed and then redesigned... and then, just kind of faded away. Well now we've finally got some more news, and its that the controller is getting another minor redesign.

The new design, which you can see in the image above, confirms the analog stick that we saw on the previous iteration. In fact, it's pretty much exactly the same as that analog stick redesign, but with an additional four-point directional guide on the left touch pad.

We have no idea if this guide will be tactile, or just a design on the pad to help guide new users in the touch pad's use.

This is quite a simple redesign, which hints that Valve may be getting closer to revealing a final, retail version of the controller. It's extremely likely this new design will be shown off in public for the first time at GDC 2015, especially considering that Valve recently confirmed it would have a large Steam Machines presence at the show.

Meanwhile, those third-party Steam Box developers who were expecting the Steam Controller to be out this year? Alienware at least has just said "screw it" and decided to ditch the Steam Controller and Steam OS entirely, releasing a Windows-based Steam Box that uses an Xbox 360 controller.

Let's hope this one doesn't go the way of Half-life 3 and it is something that we actually see released in our lifetimes.